City Line Hartford

May 06, 2009

Council, Mayor Spar Over Talks With Union

The mayor is the one who negotiates with the city's unions, not the city council.

That's the message Mayor Eddie A. Perez sent to the council in a letter Monday, telling them that council members who meet with union leaders to discuss contract details could be breaking the law. But various members of the council say they don't know what the mayor is talking about.

Instead, they say he's trying to intimidate them as they deliberate on his $547.6 million budget that includes hefty proposed tax increases.

"I'm not interested in violating any law," said Councilman Pedro Segarra, head of the council's budget committee. "But I'll be damned if I'll have the mayor initiate a blanket gag law that doesn't allow us to have any interaction [with the unions] whatsoever."

Perez's May 4 letter came just a couple of days after an apparently heated exchange between Matt Hennessy, Perez's chief of staff, and members of the city council. According to four members of the council, Hennessy told them at a budget hearing last week that some of the council's resolutions - specifically one that called for a hiring freeze - were "advisory," and not binding. On Tuesday, Councilman Kenneth Kennedy called Hennessy's comments both "arrogant and dismissive."

Perez spokeswoman Sarah Barr said Hennessy's statements Friday were "entirely consistent" with city and state law.

But it was Perez's Monday letter that had some on the council scratching their heads Tuesday.

In the letter, Perez tells members of the council that they "could potentially be violating" laws that govern collective bargaining by meeting with unions. He also warned them that their meetings - which council members say haven't happened - could be in violation of state Freedom of Information laws.

Asked for clarification Tuesday, Barr said that "we have heard that council members have been meeting with union leaders."

Segarra, Kennedy, Councilman Matt Ritter and Minority Leader Larry Deutsch all said no such meetings have taken place.

Meanwhile, the mayor's own negotiations with the unions have hit more roadblocks.

Last week, Perez sent out letters to five of the city's unions who are participating in the Hartford Public Services Coalition. Perez says he wants their suggestions on how to save roughly $30.8 million in the budget in writing by 12 p.m. today. Perez told them that "each suggestion should have an estimated dollar amount of net savings attached to it," among other things.

"Had you genuinely wished to hear from us, you would have [contacted us] prior to Feb. 2009," the coalition wrote. "And you would have engaged in more than just the one meeting you requested with us in February 2009."